Hand-held vacuum cleaners of the type having a nozzle end and a handle end are known as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,209,875 and 4,225,814, incorporated herein by reference. When gripped by their handle ends and moved in a generally back and forth oscillatory motion, the nozzle ends of these devices trace a back and forth cleaning path.
The wrist of the hand by which the handle ends are gripped controls the trajectory of their nozzle ends. When in normal use with the hand extended straight out, the cleaning path is generally in front of the user, but when the wrists are rolled to either the right or to the left, the cleaning path traced by the nozzle ends follows the roll to the right and left of the wrist.
Generally, these devices perform quite well to pick up dirt and liquid spillage immediately subjacent to their nozzle ends, whether stationery, or when moved in one of the manners aforesaid. To clean areas that lie beyond the cleaning path obtained by manipulating such devices, various attachment tools need to be employed.
One type of known attachment tool is the crevice tool. Generally, such a tool includes an end for attachment to the nozzle end of a hand-held vacuum cleaner; a nozzle end, smaller than the nozzle end of the hand-held vacuum cleaner; and a rigid tube axially connecting the attachment and nozzle ends thereof in fluid-tight communication.
With the crevice tool attached, back and forth motion of the hand-held vacuum cleaner enables cleaning in small areas such as crevices of dirt and liquid spillage that lies along the cleaning path traced by the nozzle end of the hand-held vacuum cleaner. U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,340, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a multi-component crevice tool for a hand-held vacuum cleaner, the nozzle end of which may be indexed to different rotation positions so as to clean spillage in small areas defined by angular cross-sections, such as the small space between a bookshelf and a closely adjacent wall, that otherwise may not permit of ready cleaning (except, for example, by moving the bookcase away from the wall).
Another type of known attachment tool is the extension wand. Generally, such a tool includes an end for attachment to the nozzle end of a hand-held vacuum cleaner; a nozzle end; and an elongated, rigid tube connecting the attachment and nozzle ends thereof in fluid-tight communication. The reach of the hand-held vacuum cleaner is extended to the degree that the rigid interconnecting tube is elongated, thereby permitting cleaning of spillage in areas that otherwise would lie beyond the reach of the hand-held vacuum cleaner. U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,311, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a multi-component extension wand that telescopes so as to clean spillage in areas that may lie at different distances.
The heretofore known attachment tools, however, have had their utility limited either by requiring different tools for different purposes, which not only increased manufacturing cost and consumed time when it was necessary to change tools, but also necessitated providing storage space for each of the separate components, and gave rise to an increased possibility of loss or mis-placement of each of the different attachment tools; have been costly to manufacture due to their multi-component construction; and/or have not been entirely satisfactory in use.